Kansas City breakfast and lunch eatery, cocktail bar opens next to longtime coffee shop
.jpg "The restaurant offers breakfast sandwiches, mini waffles, spiked coffee and more.")
The walls dividing City Market Coffee and the old Daily Kitchen space have been knocked down — making way for something new.
The coffee shop remains on one half of the combined space. But on the other: a light blue mural depicting dozens of Missouri birds covers the walls. Employees scramble eggs and drizzle gravy on biscuits behind the counter, calling out “order up!” as plates are ready.
Nikole Ammer, owner of City Market Coffee at 305 Main St., took over the space next door to open Murmuration, an eatery and cocktail bar.
It sells burritos, sandwiches, salads, and other breakfast and lunch options.
.jpg "unnamed (5).jpg")
For now, it closes at 5 p.m., but when its full menu launches April 16, it will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays.
The coffee shop will also be open until 8 p.m., now offering seating on both sides of the space, upstairs and on the outdoor patio.
“Every single person who’s come in here and wanted to stay has plenty of seating,” she said.
“Murmuration” refers to a formation of birds, flying together in harmony. The concept reminds Ammer of why she got into the coffee business in the first place.
“It’s all about community for me and bringing people together,” she said. “There’s not one leader, everybody works as a group.”
Artist Emily Alvarez painted the mural inside Ammer’s business. But Ammer herself spent dozens of hours transforming the space, building tables, painting the walls, picking out new decor, etc.
Murmuration sells breakfast items like the breakfast club sandwich (soft scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, and chives on brioche for $8.50) and breakfast burritos for $5.
For lunch, the chicken salad sandwich for $9.50 and the chopped salad (Romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, cucumber and carrot with a honey mustard vinaigrette for $9) are some of the options.
.jpg "unnamed (7).jpg")
Cocktails include the Shake Your Gin Feather (Tanquery gin, housemade ginger syrup, lime and club soda for $10) and the Dirty Bird Martini (Grey Goose vodka, Tanquery gin and olive juice for $13), as well as eight spiked coffee choices, including a frozen vanilla-caramel machiatto and a classic espresso martini.
In opening Murmuration, Ammer aimed to give the City Market something it didn’t have much of before, both in quality and price.
“To see people sitting in here and gathering, I think that this neighborhood is really lacking in breakfast,” she said. “How weird is it that we’re in the farmers market but there’s hardly any salads?”
City Market Coffee has been around since 1996, but Ammer bought the business in 2006.
Cajun cafe Beignet operated in the Murmuration space for seven years before closing abruptly in 2020. Daily Kitchen, a health restaurant and deli, operated for just two years before closing in late 2023.
City Market is also home to Bloom Baking Company, Taste of Brazil and Pigwich.